Course Syllabus

The Qur’an

RELS 3533 section 001 (CRN: 50674)
Fall 2025, University of Oklahoma, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:00-4:15, in Collings 250

Instructor

David Vishanoff
vishanoff at ou dot edu
Robertson 119
vishanoff.com

Office hours: I am usually available immediately after class, and you are welcome to walk back to my office with me and chat. If you aren't free then, just ask, and we'll find a time that works.

Overview

An intensive study of the Qur’an, its historical and interreligious context, its major themes, its literary forms, and the interpretive dilemmas it presents for Muslims today. In the first half of the course we will study translated passages from the Qur’an for ourselves, attempting our own collective analysis of their form, purpose, assumptions, audience, and context, and comparing our conclusions with those of a prominent Western historian. In the second half of the course each student will read one of three books reflecting different contemporary hermeneutical (interpretive) approaches to the Qur’an, and will give a class presentation summarizing, critiquing, and applying that book's approach. That presentation will then be developed into a term paper. As our work on term papers progresses, we will use our class time to study in more depth selected passages from the Qur'an that we will choose in light of our ongoing papers and lingering curiosities.

This course counts as an upper-division Humanities course and fulfills General Education requirement IV-NW (Humanities, Non-Western Culture). It is a fully in-person class for which regular attendance, good preparation, and active participation are major requirements.

Textbooks

  • The Qur’an, translated by Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem. Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199535958 (paperback; hardcover and English/Arabic also available; any edition of this translation is okay).
    • You must purchase your own printed copy as soon as possible and bring it to every class. Please purchase this particular translation, which is much easier to read than most others.
  • Fred M. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers at the Origins of Islam. Belknap / Harvard University Press. Either the 2010 hardback (ISBN 978-0674050976) or the 2012 paperback (which may be more expensive, ISBN 978-0674064140).
    • This book provides helpful background information as well as an interesting thesis about how non-Muslims are regarded in the Qur’an. You do not need to bring this book to class.
  • You will choose one of the following books as the basis for your presentation and term paper:
    • Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press, 1999) ISBN 978-0195128369
    • Farid Esack, Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism: An Islamic Perspective Of Interreligious Solidarity Against Oppression (Oneworld, 1996) ISBN 978-1851681211
    • Nicolai Sinai, The Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (Edinburgh University Press, 2017) ISBN 978-0748695775

Course Goals

  • To become thoroughly acquainted with the major themes and literary forms of the Qur’an.
  • To develop the skills of close reading and textual analysis.
  • To develop the skills and ethics of constructing knowledge collectively through discussion of primary texts.
  • To develop a critical awareness of the hermeneutical issues involved in interpreting sacred texts.
  • To develop listening knowledge–that is, to train and equip ourselves for the difficult art of listening to, conversing with, and getting to know religious people who do not share our own assumptions, convictions, or ways of thinking.

Requirements

Preparation and contribution (40%)

There are two main ways to demonstrate your preparation and contribute to this class:

  1. By speaking up in class. Oral contributions in class are often the most helpful for the rest of us–but only if what you say is clear, concise, relevant to where we are or where we need to go in our conversation, and well grounded in the assigned readings. Don’t talk just to fill silence! If you tend to speak up often, make a special effort to defer to those who speak less often, and please help me to notice students who have their hands up if I don’t see them.
  2. If you have difficulty speaking up in class, you may instead write out an idea that occurs to you during class on a 3x5 index card (which I will have available each day) and give it to me as you leave--or, better yet, pass it to me or wave at me to collect it during class so that I can bring it into the discussion later. Ideally, this practice will get you to the point where you feel confident sharing an idea out loud during class, but if you are shy or slow to put your thoughts into words--well, I get it: I was that way in college too.

You can choose how much you speak and how much you write on index cards, but either way, aim to make a substantial contribution about once a week. (Obviously, these must be your own ideas, generated entirely from your own reading, your own thinking, and our class discussions, without any reliance on other aids--such as getting a chatbot to draft a comment for you during class [eye roll].) Your grade for “preparation and contribution” will be based on the depth, insightfulness, clarity, and conciseness of your contributions, and especially on how well they reflect careful reading of the assigned texts. It will also be affected by little indications of preparation and engagement such as bringing the assigned texts to class, and by how well you help to maintain a focused intellectual atmosphere in the classroom. Your grade will not depend on having “the right interpretation” of the readings–we will often disagree, and we will all make plenty of mistakes trying to understand our texts, and that’s fine.

Hermeneutics presentation (15%)

This requirement was changed when we collectively decided to revise the plan for the second half of the term. Please see the new presentation guidelines. If you prefer, you may still choose to do the old assignment:

Old assignment:

You will give a ten-minute in-class oral presentation about your chosen hermeneutics book in which you do three things:

    • Identify the key points of your chosen author's hermeneutical theory.
    • Explain why you do or do not find that hermeneutic theoretically convincing.
    • Give one example of how that hermeneutic applies to a particular passage from the Qur'an.

Please consult the presentation guidelines in Canvas before you begin to prepare for your presentation.

Term paper (30%)

This requirement was changed when we collectively decided to revise the plan for the second half of the term. Please see the new term paper guidelines. If you prefer, you may still choose to do the old assignment:

Old assignment:

You will expand your presentation into a term paper of around 3000 words in which you analyze one passage from the Qur'an in critical conversation with the hermeneutical approach of your chosen author. Please consult the term paper guidelines in Canvas before you begin.

Final exam (15%)

An in-class handwritten essay exam describing how you have used this course in your own intellectual and personal development. Please read the exam guidelines in Canvas in preparation for the exam.

Attendance (crucial)

The work of the course consists in working together to develop a shared set of questions and ideas about the Qur’an and Qur'anic hermeneutics by studying our texts together. This is only possible with your consistent preparation, attendance, and participation. There is therefore a severe grade penalty for excessive absences. If you will not be able to attend regularly, please drop the course.

You will be allowed to miss up to four classes without penalty. Every absence beyond your first four will result in a reduction of your final course grade by one half of a letter grade. For example, if your course grade would have been a B, but you missed six classes (two more than allowed), you would be down to a C. There is no limit to this penalty, so if you miss enough classes you will quickly drop down to an F in the course. I fully expect that you will occasionally (up to four times) be unable to attend class for one reason or another, so it is not necessary to apologize or provide any excuse for your absences. On the other hand, if a serious ongoing personal or health situation will result in four or more absences during the term, please do talk to me about it as soon as you realize it may become a problem, and I will be as supportive as I can. Absences that result from religious observances will be excused, and exams or work falling on religious holidays may be rescheduled without penalty; please let me know in advance, as soon as you are able to determine that a holiday may conflict with class.

Please note that I will take attendance silently just before class begins, so if you arrive after class has begun you will be irrevocably recorded as absent unless you check in with me after class, in which case I will record you as merely late. Please don’t be embarrassed about doing this; I am not offended by your lateness, and I am glad to see you no matter how late you arrive. Nevertheless, since arriving late can be distracting to other students, if lateness becomes a recurring problem I may decide to count each lateness as a fraction of an absence.

Academic honesty (all or nothing)

In my estimation, any form of deceit, however “mild,” warrants a final course grade of F. Individual instances of suspected academic dishonesty will be referred to the appropriate University authorities, who will investigate and determine appropriate penalties (which may include grade penalties, extra classes, suspension, expulsion, and/or other penalties). In my estimation, academic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to):

  • helping other students to avoid doing their own reading or thinking or writing
  • selling a paper or exam essay or sharing it with someone who might use it instead of doing their own work
  • using unauthorized materials, sources, or devices for tests, writing assignments, or contributions to class discussions
  • sharing tests with others in or outside the class
  • false excuses for absences or late or missed assignments
  • turning in writing not created solely by yourself solely for this class on the basis of your own understanding of the subject (assistance from the OU Writing Center is allowed, but not from Artificial Intelligence [AI] or other writing aids like Grammarly)
  • using Artificial Intelligence tools in any way (some classes make good use of AI, but this one is about actually reading books, thinking your own thoughts and expressing them in your own way, and interacting face to face with others who are doing the same--an old-fashioned and still irreplaceable experience)
  • plagiarism (reproducing or paraphrasing someone else’s words or ideas without citing them)
  • failing to document sources used in an assignment
  • using or submitting text (even in modified form) that was generated or refined, in whole or in part, by AI-driven text generators such as ChatGPT
    • Here is the relevant policy from OU's Office of Academic Integrity Programs and Integrity Council: "No resource should ever be used to replace original thought or effort. Therefore, all academic work submitted by a student should be the product of the student's own understanding and effort. Unless specifically permitted by the professor, and clearly indicated by the student through proper attribution, it is cheating to submit any academic work that originates from another source."
    • In this class, to ensure that everyone does their own thinking and writing independently, without the use of AI tools, the instructor reserves the right to request an in-person meeting with any student to ask for an explanation of any aspect(s) of any of their written work, and then assign a grade based on the total evidence of the written paper and the student's explanations. If the student's explanations cast doubt on whether the student actually wrote the paper themselves from scratch, the case will be referred to the Integrity Council. Even if the Integrity Council is not able to establish that academic misconduct has occurred, the instructor may assign a low or failing grade on the assignment if the student is unable to explain to the instructor's satisfaction how the paper resulted from their own thinking.

See ou.edu/integrity for information on student rights and responsibilities with regard to academic misconduct. If you have questions or feel uncertain whether something is permissible, please ask me, and if you feel tempted to take a dishonest shortcut because you have your back against the wall and you don't know what to do, please just tell me. I am on your side, not against you, and I will be understanding and flexible as long as you are honest and transparent. And if you do cheat, just tell me that you did! If, however, I discover on my own that you have been lied or cheated, I will feel unsure how to help you or even how to have a conversation with you.

General policies

  • Assignments may or may not be accepted late, at the instructor’s discretion. Unless arranged in advance, any such lateness will be penalized one letter grade for each interval between class periods (or any fraction thereof) that elapses after the scheduled date.
  • On all writing assignments the instructor reserves the right, before assigning a grade, to request an individual meeting with any student to ask for explanation of any aspect(s) of their writing, and then assign a grade based on the total evidence of the written paper and the student's explanations. This could improve the grade somewhat if the instructor feels the student had excellent ideas that were not fully communicated in writing despite a good effort, or it could dramatically reduce the grade if the student's explanations cast doubt on whether the student actually wrote the paper themselves from scratch. This policy is needed in order to safeguard against students using recent advances in artificial intelligence to obtain essays that they did not write themselves but whose actual provenance might be difficult to prove. If academic dishonesty is suspected, the case will be referred to the Integrity Council (see Academic Honesty above), but even if the Council is not able to establish that academic misconduct has occurred this policy will enable the instructor to assign a low or failing grade on the assignment if the student is unable to explain to the instructor's satisfaction how the paper resulted from their own thinking. In other words, being ready and able to explain your writing orally if asked is part of what is expected in all writing assignments in this class. If you cannot explain how each aspect of your writing resulted from your own thinking, you have missed the point of the assignment, and if the instructor discovers this you will be graded accordingly.
  • No extra-credit work will be assigned or accepted; please do not ask. To benefit from this class, you need to do the work as it is assigned, not do other work later.
  • Because recordings or transcripts of class sessions could undermine the limited communal nature of our discussions, and could be used to facilitate academic dishonesty, making or using such recordings or transcripts is not permitted and may constitute academic misconduct.

University policies

  • In order to help alleviate the stress of "dead week" or "pre-finals week," I have designed the schedule so that all our papers and almost all our reading are completed before the last week of classes. We will use the last week to reflect back on the thinking we did during the term, tying together our thoughts, and preparing outlines for the final exam essay. (For specific provisions of OU's official pre-finals week policy see https://apps.hr.ou.edu/FacultyHandbook#4.10.)
  • Exams or work falling on religious holidays may be rescheduled without penalty; please let me know in advance, as soon as you are able to determine that a holiday may conflict with class or an assignment.
  • Any student who has a disability that may prevent him or her from fully demonstrating his or her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible; I will be very glad to make accommodations to help you participate and learn more effectively. If you are unsure whether you should request some kind of accommodation, or what kind of accommodation might be most helpful for you, consult the staff at the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center (https://www.ou.edu/adrc, 730 College Avenue, 325-3852, TDD 325-4173, adrc@ou.edu) who will be able to help figure out what is best and whether you should formally register with the Center. The ADRC is committed to supporting students with disabilities to ensure that they are able to enjoy equal access to all components of their education. This includes your academics, housing, and community events. If you are experiencing a disability, a mental/medical health condition that has a significant impact on one or more life functions, you can receive accommodations to provide equal access. Possible disabilities include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities, AD(H)D, mental health, and chronic health. Additionally, the ADRC supports students with temporary medical conditions (broken wrist, shoulder surgery, etc.) and pregnancy.
  • Title IX Resources and Reporting Requirement: Anyone who has been impacted by gender-based violence, including dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, harassment, and sexual assault, deserves access to resources so that they are supported personally and academically. The University of Oklahoma is committed to offering resources to those impacted, including: speaking with someone confidentially about your options, medical attention, counseling, reporting, academic support, and safety plans. If you would like to speak with someone confidentially, please contact OU Advocates (https://www.ou.edu/gec/gender-based-violence/advocates, available 24/7 at 405-615-0013). You may also choose to report gender-based violence and discrimination through other means, including by contacting the Institutional Equity Office (https://www.ou.edu/eoo, ieo@ou.edu, 405-325-3546) or police (911). Because the University of Oklahoma is committed to your safety and that of other students, all faculty are mandatory reporters. This means that I am obligated to report gender-based violence that has been disclosed to me to the Institutional Equity Office. This includes disclosures that occur in: class discussion, writing assignments, discussion boards, emails and during Student/Office Hours. For more information, please visit the Institutional Equity Office (https://www.ou.edu/eoo).
  • Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues: Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact me or the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center at 405/325-3852 as soon as possible. Also, see https://www.ou.edu/content/dam/eoo/documents/faqs/faqs-pregnant-and-parenting-students.pdf for answers to commonly asked questions.
  • If you are experiencing any mental health issues that are impacting your academic performance, counseling is available at the University Counseling Center (UCC). The Center is located on the second floor of the Goddard Health Center, at 620 Elm Rm. 201, Norman, OK 73019. To schedule an appointment call (405) 325-2911. For more information please visit http://www.ou.edu/ucc.
  • Emergency Protocol: During an emergency, there are official university procedures that will maximize your safety.
    • Severe Weather: If you receive an OU Alert to seek refuge or hear a tornado siren that signals severe weather.
      1. Look for severe weather refuge location maps located inside most OU buildings near the entrances
      2. Seek refuge inside a building. Do not leave one building to seek shelter in another building that you deem safer. If outside, get into the nearest building.
      3. Go to the building’s severe weather refuge location. If you do not know where that is, go to the lowest level possible and seek refuge in an innermost room. Avoid outside doors and windows.
      4. Get in, Get Down, Cover Up
      5. Wait for official notice to resume normal activities.
    • Additional Weather Safety Information is available through the Department of Campus Safety.
    • Armed Subject/Campus Intruder: If you receive an OU Alert to shelter-in-place due to an active shooter or armed intruder situation or you hear what you perceive to be gunshots: 1. Avoid: If you believe you can get out of the area WITHOUT encountering the armed individual, move quickly towards the nearest building exit, move away from the building, and call 911. 2. Deny: If you cannot flee, move to an area that can be locked or barricaded, turn off lights, silence devices, spread out, and formulate a plan of attack if the shooter enters the room. 3. Defend: As a last resort fight to defend yourself.
    • Fire Alarm/General Emergency: If you receive an OU Alert that there is danger inside or near the building, or the fire alarm inside the building activates: 1. LEAVE the building. Do not use the elevators. 2. KNOW at least two building exits 3. ASSIST those that may need help 4. PROCEED to the emergency assembly area 5. Once safely outside, NOTIFY first responders of anyone that may still be inside building due to mobility issues. 6. WAIT for official notice before attempting to re-enter the building. OU Fire Safety on Campus (https://vimeo.com/125093634).